Gabi Garcia is determined to go ahead with this fight on New Years’ Eve and the RIZIN FF authorities are not for stopping her.
Even before a completely farcical weigh in, on Thursday in Japan, the Brazilian was taking flak for her decision to fight a woman 21 years her senior.
Garcia, a seven-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, is scheduled to face 53-year-old Shinobu Kandori at the two-day RIZIN event.
No. 1 heavyweight Gabi Garcia vs. 53-year-old Shinobu Kandori, this Friday at ‘RIZIN FF World GP 2017: 2nd Round’ https://t.co/kTnukcGvUD pic.twitter.com/NAEvnkYUbR
— Women's MMA Rankings (@WMMARankings) December 26, 2017
This comes a year after she recorded a T.K.O win over 50-year-old Japanese MMA star Yumiko Hotta. Garcia’s last RIZIN contest was back in July and lasted only 16 seconds. She poked her opponent in the eye and while it was deemed accidental, the bout was declared a No Contest, leaving her at 4-0-1 in MMA.
Garcia weighed in for the fight on Thursday but missed weight by a mile. She tipped the scale at just under 237lbs, missing weight by 27lbs. Kandori was far from impressed and heckled the Brazilian before storming off the stage.
Yes, that is someone dressed as a giant pot of noodles in the background.
Here’s how it all played out.
https://twitter.com/QueelJp/status/946292326426591232
Kandori weighed in at 162lbs. That means Garcia, two days out from the fight, weighs 75lbs more than her opponent.
Needless to say, Garcia missing weight by so much led to a barrage of comments, with Irish MMA coach John Kavanagh leading the way:
Has she no shame? What possibly would want to make you want to beat up a small older lady? Absolute disgrace. https://t.co/0jfKvyI4u6
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) December 28, 2017
Gabi Garcia missed weight by 26 pounds. Johnny Hendricks just asked her how she got so close.
— MMA Roasted (@MMARoasted) December 28, 2017
https://twitter.com/Brandon_Nocaute/status/946401523063558149
The fight may still not go ahead but, as of now, it has not been officially cancelled.
#RizinFF Update: Gabi Garcia was 12 kgs over. Opponent Shinobu Kandori freaked out and started yelling “this is a disgrace”. Sakikibara came on stage and said “competitionwise, we cannot make this happen.” Stay tuned.
— Joe Ferraro (@JoeAFerraro) December 28, 2017
The two may still face off but not as part of the Grand Prix competition, as was originally envisioned.
